Charli XCX and Hannah Diamond Send Pop Music Up to ‘Paradise’

The 'Vroom Vroom' EP is out in two days

Yesterday, Charli XCX announced her new label, Vroom Vroom Recordings, as well as a planned four-track Vroom Vroom EP due out Friday, February 26. This afternoon, XCX visited BBC Radio’sAnnie Mac to play the Hannah Diamond collaboration from the set, “Paradise,” following the unveiling of the EP’s SOPHIE-produced title track as well as “Trophy.”

“Paradise” is another SOPHIE production, and it shows: The two made the song in January 2015 and XCX calls it “The most rave track I’ve ever made.” The pitched-up intro vocals are followed by the pop star’s acoustic harmonizing with only a sparse piano in the background before things properly explode, drum machines and squeaking howls filling the void. Of note: the chord structure of the verses (and the phrasing) sounds a lot like Jimmy Eat World’s “The Middle,” which we only mean as the highest of praise.